Jim Bradyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/jim-brady
en-usWed, 21 Feb 2018 23:58:40 -0500Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:58:40 -0500The latest news on Jim Brady from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-brady-tbd-2010-11Jim Brady, Boss Of Hot Local News Site TBD, Out After Silly Fight About "Content OR Aggregation"http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-brady-tbd-2010-11
Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:09:00 -0400Henry Blodget
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4cd55f2d49e2ae9753150000-404-312/jim-brady.jpg" border="0" alt="Jim Brady" width="404" height="312" /></p><p>The general manager of hot local-news site TBD, Jim Brady, is out after what sounds like a disagreement with TBD publisher (and owner) Robert Albritton.</p>
<p>The cause of the departure appears to have been an argument about whether TBD should grow by adding more "content" (original reporting) or "aggregation" (links to third-party content).</p>
<p>(Brady disputes this, but Albritton's memo makes it sound like it was an issue.)</p>
<p>In a reversal of the usual positions in this argument, publisher and money-man Albritton appears to want more original content, and Brady, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, wants (or wanted) content AND aggregation.</p>
<p>In case anyone's wondering who's "right" about what TBD should do, the answer is...Brady.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The online medium has made the distinction between "content" and "aggregation" irrelevant. Or, more specifically, it has turned aggregation into a form of content--and a very valuable one at that.&nbsp; The most successful online media companies, such as Huffington Post and Gawker Media, incorporate both original content AND aggregation.&nbsp; And that's why they are drubbing both the pure aggregators and the pure "content" companies.</p>
<p>And before you fall for the whining about how "aggregation" is a sort of parasitical behavior that steals the work of others, note that "aggregation as a form of content" is nothing new: TV and radio news outlets have been "aggregating content" for decades--by broadcasting news gathered by newspapers. And newspapers themselves have been reporting the work of other newspapers for centuries.</p>
<p>So this whole argument about "content vs aggregation" is silly, especially in a world in which millions of sources are only a click away.&nbsp;</p>
<p>If Albritton wants TBD to win a couple of Pulitzer prizes, fine, he should hire a few more Washington Post reporters.&nbsp; But if he wants the site to become a huge, influential commercial success that helps support a network of hundreds of local bloggers, he should ALSO keep investing in aggregation and technology.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/a-note-from-allbritton-regarding-tbd_b24748">Fishbowl has Albritton's memo &gt;</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-brady-tbd-2010-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>